1. Field
Methods and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a method of presenting a collection of images. More particularly, to visualizing a collection of images in the form of a collage, with the application of decorative elements containing colors which depend on visualized images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Related art technology includes a plurality of sources which describe many methods and systems relating to the transformation of a collection of images into a static image in the form of “collage”. Such conventional technology may be classified into two groups: (1) automatic or automated methods and (2) systems with tools for the manual creation of a collage. The majority of patents and publications relating to automatic creation of a collage, deal with the processes of selection, grouping and arrangement of images. For example, in the U.S. Pat. No. 7,576,755, a method of allocation of significant areas and arrangement of images on a canvas is described. The method of allocation and arrangement of images is under the condition of display of the maximum part of the significant area of the image. A Bayesian Classifier is used for this purpose. U.S. Pat. No. 7,848,596 is based on use of templates for arrangement of a set of images. The total collage of similar systems, as a rule, requires updating, by a user, for creation of an aesthetically pleasant collage. In the U.S. Pat. No. 7,904,455, use of a collage in the form of a mosaic for navigation among images is described. For visual separation of groups of images from each other, the representative images of each group are divided by borders in a collage. The border type, color, and thickness are used for setting the relationship between groups: namely, the greater distinction between groups of images, the more the borders between them are distinctive.
A slide show in the form of a collage is also a known method of presentation of a collection of images. For example, Apple® iPhoto® (see the U.S. Pat. No. 8,013,874) possesses a built-in mode of display of a slide show in the form of a collage: images “fall” on a canvas one after another. Some fixed set of decorative elements, for example, a white framework, is thus available.
For creation of more impressive slide shows in the form of a collage, one should use special programs of an autoring, such as CyberLink® PowerDirector® (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerDirector). Automatically generated collages are seldom accompanied by decorative elements, such as texts, backgrounds and frameworks. This can be partly explained by the fact that in some cases, decorative elements are poorly combined, by color. These images result in a negative perception of the collages generated by a user.
Often images are manually or automatically disposed in the form of a collage. Then such elements as texts or other decorative elements are manually introduced and their parameters are adjusted (for example, a font, a size, a transparency intensity, a saturation, a color). Manual decoration of a collage takes considerable time. Change of parameters of decorative elements, as a rule, requires special skills, which include for example, the ability to aesthetically select the matching colors and a combination of various decorative elements.
From one of the related art methods and systems for manual creation of a collage is the program Picture Collage Maker (<http://www.picturecollagesoftware.com>). This offers a set of templates for image placing and a set of decorative elements, such as frameworks, masks, shades, drawings and backgrounds. The drawback of such systems occurs because they are focused exclusively on experienced users who are engaged in the creation of personal collages.